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"This story was submitted to the People's War site by the Barnsley Archives and Local Studies Department on behalf of Maggie Hargreaves and has been added to the site with his/her permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions."
I remember the rationing, visitors used to help themselves to your things. We used to be able to get bits off the black market to help out. Washing powder and soap were also rationed.

I was a housewife during the war, my husband used to work at Wharncliffe Woodmoor numbers 5 and 6. We enjoyed gardening and days out walking.

When sugar rations were low I used to put grated carrots in my baking for sweetness. We also collected the cream off the top of the milk for making cheese. We used condensed milk for making rice puddings.

When we were washing we had two tubs one for colours and one for whites. The white got boiled with a ‘dolly blue’. Then we used to put the washing through a ringing machine and starch the collars. We had a coal-fired boiler to heat the water. We used to have a full day at washing. We changed the beds at the weekend to be able to get on with the washing on the Monday.

We used to make reflectors out of baby milk tins. We’d cut a hole in the bottom and put a light bulb in that was attached to a wire that we could switch on in the house. We could use it in the garden without light showing upwards.

We also used to get nylon for knickers and dresses from the Pond School, they used to for making parachutes there.

At the end of the war we had a bonfire on top of the air-raid shelter, the radiograms were outside and we were all dancing.

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